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Closing the Gap 4.19.18

Week 15 “Encourage One Another”

Day 4

Pray:

Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.

Read:

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Reflect:

If you show up, good things can happen; if you do not, they will not.  Meeting together and encouragement are directly connected. If this is true, then why would some give up on meeting together?  Doesn’t everyone like to be encouraged? Some give up on meeting together because the impact is not always immediately evident. The encouragement that comes from being active in community can be subtle. Your heart may be encouraged in such a small way that it is barely perceptible when it happens.  But the cumulative impact of even ‘small’ encouragement is enough to keep you in the fight. When you fail to meet together with other believers, you may not feel any immediate difference. But if you continue to neglect meeting together, you certainly will experience a difference. Or something worse may happen, you may not feel any difference at all because the cumulative impact of not meeting with others has hardened your heart and discouragement has become the accepted norm in your life.  Do not give up. Show up and keep showing up! Meeting together in community in all its various forms is a good thing. Do not become weary in doing this good thing, because you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. The harvest takes planting, watering, and waiting, but if you continue to do what is good to do, then the harvest will come in due time. When you meet together with other believers, remember why you are there – to encourage one another. Pour the courage of the gospel into one another when you meet.  Let others complain, let them blame, let them talk about things that don’t matter. But let us continue to meet together and, when we do, let us encourage one another.  

Pray:

(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.

 

Join the discussion 2 Comments

  • Denise Hulse says:

    I would love to be able to start each morning first thing with these devotionals. But the print is such a soft gray that I have to wait several hours before my eyes are sharp enough to be able to read the print. Is there anyway that it could be changed to black? I so appreciate these devotionals!

  • Rodney Bartlett says:

    Denise – I made the print darker. Let me know if that helps. You can also click on the Download PDF link and it will take out all the fancy website stuff and make a more printer-friendly version of the devotional.

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